Generally, we don't consider comedic entertainers and Buddhist monks in the same thought, that is, until we meet Alan Clements, a former monk and a current human rights activist who has witnessed the brutality of the regime in Burma and lived to write about it. Clements was the first American to be ordained as a Buddhist monk in Burma, where he lived in a monastery for the better part of a decade the 1970s and 1980s before divesting and becoming involved in Burma's non-violent struggle against dictatorship, known by the people as their revolution of the spirit, begun in 1988 when nearly 10,000 peaceful and unarmed demonstrators were slaughtered by the military. He has written a number of books about Burma and non-violence, including Burma: The Next Killing Fields?, and he has completed script revisions and advised for a feature film, Beyond Rangoon, directed by John Boorman. But his most unusual project is The Voice of Hope, a series of conversations with Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel peace prize recipient and a woman known as Burma's Gandhi, that he co-authored with her, then smuggled out of the country in 1996. On Saturday, Sept. 25, Clements brings his one man show, Spiritually Incorrect, to Sechelt in an evening of provocative entertainment which he describes as improvised spoken word in a radical new genre of spiritual entertainment that combines comedy, satire, drama and activism. But what does that mean, and will it be funny? Clements will explore the deep themes of authenticity, freedom, beauty and life in the cosmos. "The very epicentre of Spiritually Incorrect," he explains, "that which I live for, bleed for, is about freedom and human rights." Paradoxically, despite the exploration of such weighty themes, Clements says that very little about the performance is serious. The show is 80 minutes and contains explicit content. It is unscripted, unrehearsed and spontaneous; he has given 87 shows to date with no two quite the same. He regards a successful event as one in which he touches someone in the audience in a sacred and spiritual moment that will help that person achieve a new level in their life. The show is a benefit for the non-profit Burma Project that raises awareness of the plight of Aung San Suu Kyi. Show time is 7:30 p.m. at the Raven's Cry Theatre in Sechelt. Tickets for $18 advance ($22 at the door) are available at Coast Books, Talewind Books, the Gumboot and at Raven's Cry.
